India, where people have nothing -- and everything

Nick-H

Let's get one thing clear about the Brits. The Brits are God's gift to planet Earth, and without us, there would be no civilisation, no true religion, no economic progress, no history worth reading. Furthermore, all non-Brits are inferior, especially those that live in hot sunny places... ... ... and all that kind of bullshit. If anyone expects to read anything else in our popular press they will be sadly disappointed. With the possible exception of USA, don;t expect to see wonder and praise heaped on any nation by the British media!

(we are like this only)

Very sad, very stupid.

But yes, India is dirty. Chennai actually has quite a good street-cleaning workforce (yes, it is privatised, and seems to be one of instance of privatisation working. Perhaps it's a pity that it is a multinational company got the job...) but it it is still dirty and the pavements are still covered in shit, and I bet that dust that we wash off our feet when we get indoors is packed with microbes. Yes, there's heaps wrong with the place and the way its systems work --- most of which is pretty irrelevant to to the tourist.

Well, I'm going to live there... and I wonder whether I'll be accentuating the positive (cue for a song?) in a couple of years time.

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

agni5454

people simply has to realize that India currently is going the "Industrial Revolution" time-period. If one looks up the US Industrial Revolution History, it will become clear that no all was NOT very clean here as well.

and nick, we are uberhumans

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"Human Life without happiness or hope of happiness is not a life, but rather a death in life" - David Swenson The Dignity of Human Life

"History is always a perspective; but numbers never lie"

lotus blossom

when i hear people speak of such filth, as they hoist tons of crap food into their bodies, i always think how funny if they could only see the condition of their insides. most colons are clogged from end to end with filth with the diets that the western world consumes...

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Not all who wander are lost

Shaktipalooza

Thanks Lotus Blossom and Guerik,

Was quite a surprise for us. We decided to try for a few months to see if we could make it happen before moving to India.

36 years old and I've always done my best to avoid making munchkins and in the first moment of my life where I decide it's a good idea, whammo, first try.

We feel truly blessed

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lotus blossom

now, now, nick, you know that it is we americans who are god's gift to the planet earth. you brits come in second place.

shanthi

Funny though, ....yes it is dirty, hot and sweaty....but, everything has it's place in India and there is a place for everyone. I've moved to different parts of the UK: Stoke, Somerset, London, Dorset & Essex; North and South Israel for almost 5 years, Three different places in Ireland and 2 different regions of La belle France but I have never felt more accepted and welcomed as I have done when in India. Yes people did look on me as a rich B***h when I first arrived in 1998, but then they saw I didn't flaunt what I had, but tried to do something for the children in my own small way and in the end I have now the problem of beating away donators of food, clothing and toys and meds from my door - they ALL give out of their own terrible poverty. It warms my heart to a place where it has never been touched before and each time I walk out of immigration at any of the airports, but especially Bangalore, I feel I have come home.

agni5454

Almost every important invention including cars that run for ever, printing press, or guns were invented in Germany not UK...so there you have it UK just used our inventions on their conquests. So we have to be god's gift to humanity

Sama

when I got back people who truly know me said, "welcome back, we won't say 'welcome home'..."

I am already planning my second trip to Chennai for next March for more yoga study....

but this time I will stay an extra week or two just to travel - alone.

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BE THE REVOLUTION

lotus blossom

when i got back to the states i felt incredibly alone after leaving my home in india. who cares about the dirt when you have love.

Rika

YAY!!! Do let us know how that experience goes!

Yes, I AM a voyeur. :P I hope you don't mind!

cyberhippie

It's really rather funny, all this emphasis we place on dirt in India. Sure it exists........everywhere but give me the defunct sidewalks, plastic bags stuck to fences, Baoris used to tip trash and cows munching cardboard, over this stupid, impersonal, sterile world we have created in the west. The toxic waste we are creating in our quest for a TV inspired, whiter than white household is having a major impact on our water supplies, flora and fauna and some say even our immune systems. By our very act of spraying, wiping and generally sterilising everything in sight we seem only to be storing up more problems for future generations.
Still our houses do shine........just like the TV ad said

Besides that, at 40 years of age, am I the only one who can remember a bit of good honest dirt in our own enviroments, you know before the anti litter campaigns, when every bit of stonework had taken on that sooty black colour synonomous with our thirst for fossil fuels, the cars that spewed the most toxic smoke as part and parcel of the driving experience, river and lochs used as repositories for what disappeared down the "big white telephone" Living near a Nuclear Sub base I also had a few other delicasies to deal with along the way
Well I remember when life had a different palor and hey I survived.....against all the odds!

Ok ideally a cleaner enviroment in India would benefit all, but letting the current state of "trash anarchy" put you off a trip is I think a symtom of what we have let ourselves become in the west. A slave to the idea of some kind of chemically obtained shiney Nirvana, punted around by the usual suspects.
Life goes on without a squeaky clean approach to our enviroment, look at most of the developing world!
These days I seldom notice the trash and filth in India........just too many other things going on to be over concerned about the state of the streets. The only time I pause for thought is when I see how the "trash Anarchy" has turned beautiful enviroment like Dharamsala and Palolem into massive trash sites. Now that just pisses me off, mostly because it's easily avoidable.

As I said give me the alive, microbe laden, breathing, "trash anarchy" of India any day

Rika

Cyberhippie,

What would it take to get you to accept a position as spokesperson for me in here? :P I'm going to go sit in the corner and let those of you who are far more eloquent make my points for me.

Sama

speaking of trash...

note the dog and the crows on top of the pigs. I think my county should utilize this form of organic garbage disposal at my local Mt. Trashmore...

this is in Chennai...I asked my driver to stop because there was no way I was going to miss this photo op.....

mmmm....pork! the other white meat....

Attached Thumbnails

 

cyberhippie

Well yogagirl they phased out the "Goan Pig Toilet" in favour of the new fangled septic tank toilet and guess what........ Yep the ground water in many villages is now spoiled because of faulty tanks leaking sewage into the ground water. Progress they call it!!

agni5454

Well has the indians considered the idea of installing huge incenarators? I am sure that could take care of the garbage problem.